News & General Info

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Burbank City Council, Police Commission, and the case against petty squabbles

Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank City Hall at East Olive Avenue and North Third Street. Last Tuesday night’s Burbank City Council meeting was like a marathon, it went on and on, but for a good reason. The city council had a busy agenda filled with issues and concerns on December 8 and that packed the chamber at city hall.  The controversy over declawing […]
Wednesday, December 9, 2009

President Obama signs health & jobs initiatives

Photo: Chuck Kennedy/White House — President Obama shakes hands with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today after signing three new initiatives to help community health centers.  “… I’m pleased to announce that we’re awarding more than $500 million to 85 centers in more than 30 states and Puerto Rico that are providing critical care for so many folks […]
Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Biz Bytes: Box Office record & Bernie Madoff’s victims speak out

Hollywood movies are raking in the dough Hollywood films are making a ton of money, serious green, like in the billions of dollars. The 2009 Box Office should reach $9.681 billion today, surpassing the best-year ever record of $9.680 billion set in 2007, according to Hollywood.com. This is a surprise for a couple of reasons: one there are still about three weeks […]
Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Stormy weather causes havoc in the Southland

Sunny skies today will help dry out Burbank and the rest of the Southland from some very stormy weather. We got slammed by a cold Pacific storm that swooped down from Alaska and rolled through our area yesterday. Hundreds of accidents on the freeways.There were some evacuations in the communities burned by the wildfires, but residents there managed to get through it all without  any major […]
Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Consumer News: Safety concerns about a hot holiday toy & a Burbank hospital is under investigation

 Are Zhu Zhu pets safe? Zhu Zhu pets, the robotic hamsters that talk and move, are at the top of a lot of wish lists this holiday season. Recently, a California-based consumer watchdog group’s website reportedly sparked a controversy when it claimed there is a potentially harmful level of metal in the Mr. Squiggles model. Now, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has weighed in […]
Sunday, December 6, 2009

“The Blind Side” scores big at the Box Office

“The Blind Side” ran right over the competition at the Box Office this weekend. The sports drama even knocked the hugely successful “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” out of the top spot.  “Blind Side,” which stars Sandra Bullock, raked in an estimated $20.4 million to become the number one film in the U.S. In three weeks, “The Blind Side” has rung […]
Saturday, December 5, 2009

President Obama talks about those upbeat job figures, the economy, and where we go from here

Photo: Pete Souza/The White House 12/03/09 President Barack Obama gets it. The economic recovery will not really hit home for many until the sluggish job market is revitalized. Yesterday, the Labor Department reported the national unemployment rate took a surprising dip to 10 percent in November— the best it’s been since December of 2007. Companies laid off 11,000 workers last month, compared to 111,000 […]
Friday, December 4, 2009

Entertainment Bytes: Female films generate Box Office gold & Roman Polanski out on bail

Successful female films part of a growing trend The long lines at the theaters tell the story. Female driven films are hot and making mega-bucks. “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “The Blind Side” are just the latest movies to demonstrate the power of female moviegoers.  So is Hollywood going to make more of these films?  CNN has more on […]